We just can’t quit you, 4000 block of Baring Street. We were here just last week, telling you about a five unit project just getting started on the block. As we were writing that story, we were kicking ourselves for not getting decent photos of Good Food Flats, a much more significant project down the street that’s now approaching the finish line. You may recall, we first told you about this project at 4030 Baring St. in December of 2015 after predicting for years that a row of butchered old buildings would eventually get demoed and replaced with new construction. We also were able to find an image of what these buildings looked like once upon a time, showing the extent to which time and poor stewardship can ruin architecture.

Those buildings were torn down about a year and a half ago, with plans for a 27 unit student apartment building with contemporary architecture and unusual amenities. According to the rental listings now on Craigslist, the building includes a rooftop lounge with a commercial test kitchen and a 24 hours coffee bar to go along with the expected amenities of a fitness center and a common area for studying. The furnished apartments are being leased one bedroom at a time at a price of $750/bed, a price that includes cable and internet but still makes us feel old when we consider how little it cost to rent an apartment back when we were in college.

You can see, the construction is mostly complete, though it appears some facade work remains. We don’t imagine that the building will be fully leased until the fall, but as student housing leasing goes, the timeline seems pretty good in terms of getting the apartments filled by the fall semester. We do wonder whether students (or parents) will be willing to pay a little extra in this part of town for a slightly more upscale building, or whether the newer buildings nearby that don’t have fancy amenities will suffice for most people.

Architecturally, the jury is still out until the building is entirely finished. But our initial reaction is positive. We’ve generally been frustrated by the infill construction in this neighborhood, given how badly it clashes with the existing housing stock. But for a project this large, the contemporary look seems to makes sense. Or maybe we’re just happy this place doesn’t have any red brick or stucco bay windows, like so many other new buildings on the block.